


The Girl in the Orchard

by syrupwit



Category: Shoujo Kakumei Utena | Revolutionary Girl Utena
Genre: Apples, Fairy Tale Elements, Gen, Post-Canon, Wolves
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-18
Updated: 2018-10-18
Packaged: 2019-08-03 03:12:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,638
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16318028
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/syrupwit/pseuds/syrupwit
Summary: Kozue takes a wrong turn.





	The Girl in the Orchard

**Author's Note:**

  * For [ShamanicShaymin](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ShamanicShaymin/gifts).



The new transfer student wanted to meet somewhere out of the way. Kozue cut class early and trekked across campus to the gardens that bordered the forest. Some plots were better maintained than others. A few even looked newly planted, their brick paths strewn with trowels, forgotten seed packets, and crumpled bags of fertilizer.

She walked until the paths were worn stone and the flowers dead or overgrown. The dark trees loomed not far away. It was mid afternoon at latest, but the sun had hidden behind a cloud, and Kozue was beginning to feel tired. She stopped to rest for a moment, considering the play of shadows in the forest undergrowth. It was then, turning her head, that she saw the gate.  
  
It was a rusted iron gate, unremarkable but for its apparent age. She tried the latch and found it yielding. A meandering path between shrubs and hedges led to a long, swept gravel walk, both sides of which were lined with fruit trees. It must have been fall already, because the ground was scattered with apples in various stages of ripeness: green, gold-pink, and rich, deep red. The smell was light and sweet. In a few days or weeks it would turn rotten. Kozue trod the walk in something like a trance, a small part of her kept keenly on alert. It was possible that this might be a trick.  
  
In the shade of one of the biggest trees, there was a flash of human colors. Kozue stepped to the side and peered around a branch. It wouldn't do to be discovered here, except by Miki of course. However, from what she could see, the person was not moving. Asleep?  
  
It was a girl with yellow hair. Her hands were folded over her heart like a dead body's. Leaves and small petals sprinkled her face, her scarf, the bodice and skirt of her dress. Kozue crept forward with fear in her heart, but it became apparent the girl was breathing steadily. Her chest rose and fell just enough to be noticed. Next to her head lay a blood-red apple with a bite taken out of it. The bite, like the girl's mouth, was dainty, unassuming. Small.  
  
Kozue touched the girl's arm. "Hey, wake up." Nothing.  
  
She shook her shoulder. "Hey, hey!" The closed lids fluttered, then nothing.  
  
She pinched her cheek. "Wake up!" A blush bloomed in the pale, frigid face.  
  
The girl opened her eyes -- their look was oddly glazed, muddied somehow, for such a clear, limpid green -- and said, "Akio?"

 

-

 

"I can't thank you enough," said the chairman, gallant as ever. "If you hadn't come along, who knows what would have happened! That close to the forest is no place for a young woman. My dear, you must choose a better spot for your afternoon nap."  
  
Kanae Ohtori blinked and nodded at his side. Her eyelids were already drooping again.

 "That was kind of you," said Miki to Kozue as they practiced in the music room later that evening, Tsuwabuki laboring over a stack of timesheets in the corner. Kozue had improved lately, despite herself. She could tell Miki thought she was changing for the better. It rankled her, as half his ideas about her did, but for now she hadn't the heart to correct him. 

"Hmm, I guess," said Kozue. "Show me how to do this part again?" And Miki, endlessly patient, did.

The transfer student was upset the next day; he thought Kozue had been teasing him. She let him. It was a week before she had him eating out of her hand, suggesting they try again. This time, Kozue insisted on going to his dorm. The chairman had said there were reports of wolves in the forest, some big enough to jump over the fence.

  
-

 

The next time Kozue saw Kanae Ohtori was in the greenhouse by the middle school building. No one used the greenhouse anymore, so it was a surprise to say the least. Kozue heard humming and pursued it through the open door. 

Ohtori stood in the back, potting a begonia. She was wearing an apron and work gloves. Her hair had been tied back in a high ponytail, and there was a stylish smudge of dirt on her cheek. She startled and gave a polite smile when she noticed Kozue.

"Kaoru-san! I didn't see you there! Please forgive my mess."

Kozue did not recall giving Ohtori her name. She supposed the chairman might have said it. "What are you doing?"

"I thought I'd try my hand at gardening." Ohtori patted the soil around her begonia. "Akio's sister had such skill with it, and I know he misses her since she graduated. I thought it would cheer him up to see the greenhouse looking lively again."

"His sister?" Kozue couldn't remember that the chairman had a sister.

"Didn't you know her? I think she was in your year, or just above it." Ohtori rattled off a name that Kozue didn't recognize.

Kozue turned the name over in her mouth, and suddenly found that she did remember. "Anthy."

"Yes." Ohtori's face fell. "We haven't always gotten along too well. Since we'll be sisters soon, I hope I can make that change."

"That's noble of you, at least." Kozue's memories of Anthy suggested that such a venture would be difficult. Well, and a lot of other things.

Ohtori laughed and transferred the potted begonia to a shelf. "Would you like to help? I've got a few more here."

"No thanks, I don't like getting my hands dirty." Kozue had a date anyway, now that she thought about it.

"There are more gloves in the equipment cabinet over there, but I'm sure you've got lots to do! Don't let me keep you from your studies."

"Right."

As she left, the humming resumed. It was something simple and repetitive, an unfinished melody, like a music box that got stuck. Try as Kozue might, though, she couldn't match it to any tune she knew.

 

- 

 

Kozue went looking for the orchard again one Sunday. She couldn't find it. The trees were the same, the stones, even the sky -- but the gate and its guarded fruit had disappeared. 

 

-

 

The wolf problem got worse. The wolves circled the school and howled on odd nights; they showed up by the fence across from Nanami Kiryuu's bedroom window and disturbed her sleep. Wolves had even invaded the old dueling arena. Kozue overheard Miki talking to Juri about it. 

"I just don't think ignoring the problem is a good idea."

"What do you suggest, then? We rush them on horseback with lances, like Saionji wants?"

At school, no one was allowed to talk about wolves. The instructors gave vague advisements about safety and distributed frayed pamphlets on self-defense. By silent, almost unconscious consensus, students began to travel in packs of at least three, more after dark. Finally, the chairman declared an official curfew. No one could leave the buildings between sunset and sunrise.

It was almost to be expected when, exactly three nights later, Akio Ohtori announced that his fiancée had been kidnapped by wolves.

 

-

 

The Student Council was revived and reassembled. Miki stopped coming to practice. Tsuwabuki became sulky and disobedient as Nanami no longer had time for him. Rumors swirled of a secret club, where certain students met to test their worth for a special mission, devised by the higher administration of Ohtori itself. Portraits of Kanae Ohtori hung in the school buildings. It was said, mostly by younger girls whispering to each other in the corridors, that the chairman kept a picture at his desk and kissed it every day.

Not since the scandal of Miss What's-her-name, the one who got expelled, had such a flurry arisen. Though Kozue now could not recall entirely what that had been about. 

The begonias in the greenhouse were dying. Kozue went to check and found Ohtori's apron and gloves still there, folded neatly on a shelf. She thought about watering the flowers, decided against it, then decided against deciding against it. The watering can was old -- it left rust stains on her hand, disgusting. She wiped them on her skirt. Later, the transfer student got upset because he thought they were dirt stains from an outdoor assignation. He caused a scene that ended with namecalling and him slapping Kozue. Her friends were watching.

She walked away alone. It hurt, even though she hadn't cared about the transfer student, and it hurt more that Miki wasn't there to walk with her. 

On the way home, it began to rain. It was one of those sudden rains like the sky had dumped out a bucket of water. Since it was autumn, the wind came too. Kozue, umbrella-less, arrived home in quite the state: shivering and drenched to the bone. No one came to greet her at the door. No one brought a mat to stamp her soaking wet shoes on, or a towel to dry her ruined hair. She passed Miki sitting at the low table, squinting at his stopwatch, and he glanced at her for half a second before he turned back to his notes. He didn't even come to her room to apologize or offer her a cup of tea.

Someone was _doing_ something, something that threatened to take Miki away from Kozue again, and it wasn't right. This was really worthless. It had to stop.

  

-

 

The Wolf-Hunters' Club was not accepting new members. Nor was the Wolf-Hunters' Cheerleaders' Club. Nor was the Wolf Lore and Study Club. Nor was the secretively formed and poorly moderated Wild Animal Conservation Club.

The Student Council... Arisugawa met Kozue's questions with unhelpful smiles and obvious tact. Nanami Kiryuu claimed howl fatigue. Touga Kiryuu and Saionji Kyouichi had locked the door to the kendo practice room. Miki just frowned at his stopwatch a lot.

The chairman's office was locked when Kozue stopped by, but she heard growls and whispers behind the door, and saw shadows like charades on the wall.

It wasn't until they had apple curry for lunch that Kozue thought,  _Well, maybe..._

 

-

 

The gate was open. The scene was the same: A girl lay supine under the trees. But this time night was falling rapidly, and the air hung thick with the scent of fermented apples.

Kozue walked, holding her breath against the stench, careful not to tread on rotting fruit. She had the sense that missteps would not be welcome here. At last she knelt at Ohtori's side and observed the faint movement of her chest. She was deathly white. Even her fair hair looked to have been drained of color. 

Kozue said, "Wake up." 

Ohtori's bluish lips parted. Her face scrunched up, as if in pain. Then her eyes -- she had terribly wide, bright eyes -- opened like candles being lit, and she gazed at Kozue with a look that was hard to interpret.

"Kaoru-san?" said Ohtori.

"You fell asleep again."

"I know, I sleep too much." Ohtori rolled to her side and started trying to get up. "You're always having to rescue me, you're always having to take care of me... I'll get this under control before I become a wife." 

"Can you stand?"

Ohtori shook as she raised herself up on her elbows. "I think so."

Kozue offered a hand anyway.

They rose together and stood looking away from each other. Dusk had nearly passed without their notice. Above them, the stars were coming out. Kozue caught sight of the moon's waxing sliver and remembered too late --

_Awoooooooooooooooooooo!_

"Damn."

"Was that a wolf?"

"We've contracted a bit of, um," Kozue searched for the right word, "an infestation."

Another howl sounded. Kanae flinched and drew closer to Kozue, which looked silly because she was taller and older. Kozue was glad of her warmth anyway.

"We should get back to the school."

"Yes, let's."

They took the gravel path out, but the gate had disappeared, or maybe they hadn't gone the right direction. Kozue's phone died in use as a flashlight. They were reduced to groping along the fence. It seemed to go on forever. Kozue was sure they should have reached the outer limits of campus by the time a gap appeared. Of course, that was the exact moment the green, glowing eyes of the wolves came into focus. 

"Run!" 

They ran and ran. They ran so far that they certainly weren't at the school anymore. The wolves had chased them into the forest. Around them towered thick trees, blocking out the sky. It was impossible to tell which direction they had come from or where they were supposed to go. The air sang with cold, and with the sensation of being watched, hunted, trapped.... Now it began to snow.

It had been snowing for a while. How hadn't they noticed?

"You dropped your coat," Kozue pointed out through chattering teeth.

"Oh." Ohtori bent to retrieve the coat. It was an old-fashioned looking garment with heavy embroidery, more like a robe than a coat. Something changed in her face as she put it on. Snowflakes caught in the big hood, darkening the fabric as they dampened.

"Where's your coat?" Ohtori asked.

"I don't know." Kozue's arms and legs were going numb.

For a moment it was just the two of them in the wilderness, Kozue drawn near to the sheltering Ohtori, when the glow appeared again and they realized they were surrounded.

"We're going to  _die_ ," whispered Ohtori fearfully.

The wolves held still or pawed the ground. What were their teeth like? Such shaggy beasts. Their big eyes, their cloven feet, their velvet-soft noses... Kozue realized.

"They're not wolves. They're c-cows."

"Moo," said one of the wolves, for emphasis. It pushed its big nose at Kozue's hip. "Mooooooo."

Ohtori seemed doubtful. "They don't look like cows."

"They're a long-haired b-breed or something. For winter milk? They're friendly. See, I'll sh-show you." Kozue stuck her fingers out. The wolf-cow licked them. (She wiped the warm spit on her thigh.)

Hesitantly, Ohtori held out her hand, and met with a similar fate. 

"Why are they here?"

"I don't kn-know." But she was starting to suspect.

"Why is that one standing so close, and so still?"

"I think it wants you to ride it."

The cow in question turned its face towards Ohtori and let out a long moan. Ohtori took one cautious step forward, then another. The cow looked at her with liquid calm and allowed her to place a hand on its neck. She felt around in its long, rough locks with trepidation, discovering the straps of a harness, the shape of a saddle. She swung herself up onto the cow's back and found that she could sit demurely sidesaddle. 

It was like a picture out of a storybook. There was the princess in her flowing robe, the gentle yet knowing glance of the cow, the dark trees and falling snow. Kozue still couldn't feel her limbs, but her body wasn't uncommonly warm yet. She had the feeling that the snow was an illusion, anyway.

Ohtori leaned down from her mount and brushed a kiss against Kozue's forehead. "Thank you, Kozue." The smell of foreign perfume hung about her hair.

"It was no issue, really," said Kozue. She watched Kanae and her herd until they faded into the distance. She wasn't sure yet that they would be all right, but whatever awaited them had to be better than what was here.

The walk back to campus was pleasant: footprints in crisp snow, and then the familiar stones beneath her feet -- paths leading her back to lamplight, to warmth, to Miki's exclamation as she crossed the threshold and kicked off her shoes.

She went to bed humming a melody she didn't know. When she awoke, it was still in her head, but by the time breakfast finished it had faded.


End file.
